If you clicked over to the Twitter accounts of the New York Yankees or Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday night looking for coverage of their game against each other, you came across something different.
Both teams tweeted the same statement at the start of the game, saying there would be no game coverage this evening and both teams would “offer facts about the impacts of gun violence.”
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) May 26, 2022
In lieu of game coverage and in collaboration with @Yankees, we will use our channels to offer facts about the impacts of gun violence.
The devastating events that took place in Uvalde, Buffalo and countless other communities across our nation are tragedies that are intolerable.
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) May 26, 2022
Each team’s Twitter feed then followed the same pattern: tweeting a fact, along with a relevant source link.
For example…
Firearms were the leading cause of death for American children and teens in 2020.
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) May 26, 2022
Citation: https://t.co/i21jUeYKnR
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) May 26, 2022
58 percent of American adults or someone they care for have experienced gun violence.
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) May 26, 2022
Source: https://t.co/CwV3hcFdX3
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) May 26, 2022
This clearly isn’t something you see every day from sports teams, and will inevitably ruffle the feathers of people who demand that sports remain detached from reality. But in the aftermath of the most recent shooting, we’ve seen plenty of people in the sports world not stick to sports, so it’s not as if these two teams are on an island this week.